Weekend Rewind

Oh, how I love Saturdays. The birds sing, the cartoons are on, the boys sleep in (kind of) and we don't actually have to go anywhere. Bliss. But best of all, it's time for Weekend Rewind, that mixed tape of classic loveliness that has now been at home in the Fibro for a whole month!

The excitement.

Thanks to Maxabella, you can now grab the exquisite Weekend Rewind button for your sidebar. I'm very grateful to Maxabella. Without her, this would be the most boring blog in the Blogosphere. Now look at me - I have a button!

Of course, you don't need the button to join in. All you have to do is become a Friend of Fibro if you're not already, link up one of your favourite old posts,  and then share some comment love amongst your fellow linkiers. I can't tell you how much I enjoy sifting through your contributions each week. So much fun!

What are you waiting for? Dust off a post, kick back and rewind. The world's easiest linky, open all weekend.

PS: Don't forget, for cross-hemisphere linky love, check out Blog Gems with Jen at The King and Eye. It's another chance to air your archives and meet new bloggers.

Weekend Rewind (ta da!)

So, how do you like me so far? After toying with 'oldie but goodie', 'second-chance saturday' and, even, 'play it again Sam' (though this did not make it to the blogsophere), I've settled on Weekend Rewind, and (thanks to Maxabella) have an image to match.

I'm particularly happy with the cassette. The Inner City Hipster (my brother) tells me that cassettes are very cool right now. Perhaps even sohotrightnow. Something to do with the tangible effort required to find a song, which is, apparently, a big hit with the download generation. For this reason, he siphoned off all of my compilation tapes from the 1980s during the latest clear-out of Dad's shed. Choose 1985, anyone? Thru the Roof '83? These and many other classics have now found new, appreciative homes.

None of which has anything to do with the fact that this is the new, improved version of the world's easiest linky. All you have to do is to join Team Fibro if you're not already following, dust off a favourite old post, link it up and then lay some comment love on other posts on the list. The linky will remain open until 9pm Sunday (AEST), hence the weekend bit in the title.

So kick back, unwind and rewind with some classic old posts. Can't wait to see what you have for me.


This week, I'm offering up a post that's all about the delights of the Fibrotown newspaper.

PS: A community service announcement. I was introduced last week to Jen at The King and Eye - she runs the also relatively new Blog Gems, a linky that encourages you to air your archives. Jen is based in Ireland, so we're working some cross-hemisphere classic post love. Her latest linky is up on Sunday. Go visit and share your awesome classics with a whole different section of the blogosphere!

PPS: I'm joining in Maxabella's Grateful Saturday. I'm extremely grateful to Maxabella for making me such a cute image for my linky. 

All about books: Going cuckoo with the Classics

If I were at school right now, I’d be failing English. I set myself a goal this year to read more classics. I started well with Cold Comfort Farm, but have gone steadily downhill since then. I got two chapters in with Love In a Cold Climate, before being distracted by a Scandinavian crime novel.

Then I watched The Wire and decided that The Great Gatsby might be the go. D’Angelo Barksdale had very good things to say about it during his brief time in prison. I managed half of that. Before being distracted by a cheap American thriller.

So far I’d have one A and two Fs for not finishing the book. (Mind you, I could probably still write you a pass essay on both of those novels, without ever finishing the book. I am sure I am not the first person to have done that during their academic career. A handful of quotes, some decent notes in class and, hey presto, move on to the next one. Though if my mother is reading this, I never actually tested this premise.)

I’m not sure why I’m struggling so much with this challenge. These are Good Books. They have been Good Books by Great Writers for many years and will no doubt remain so. Penguin thinks they’re good enough to warrant the orange-and-white cover.

And yet I’d rather read crime fiction.

I know why I’m so addicted to crime. I love a good conclusion. All the loose ends tied, the questions answered, the problem solved and wrapped in a bow. Even the gore doesn’t bother me. Me, who closes her eyes during RPA to avoid any sight of a knee operation, reads lengthy descriptions of decaying bodies and insect activity (crucial to the time line) without batting an eye. Because I can be certain that it will all work out in the end. If only life were so accommodating.

The Great Gatsby offers no such promise. This is the third or fourth time I have started this book and not so much given up, but faded away. I know Gatsby wants something he can’t have. So do I. I want to finish the book.

Demoralised by my inability to read Good Books, I have come up with a cunning plan for my next foray. My lovely guitar teacher B is doing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at school (year 11) and has asked me to help her with her assignments. I said yes (despite misgivings about just how much help I will be), and in a show of leadership and grown-up-edness, I have begun to read the book.

I am four pages in. Last time I tried this book I got halfway through. I’m aiming higher this time. I need to be able to talk knowledgeably about the nature of the individual and the beauty of Nurse Ratched’s name in two weeks time.

Now all we have to hope is that a must-read Scandinavian crime novel doesn’t hit the shelves in the meantime.